The Small Computer Systems Interface SCSI! bus is used extensively for computer peripheral devices it is designed for use with hard drives, tape drives, scanners. CD Roms, printers and computers. Indeed, all computers from small personal computers to workstations to mainframes are equipped SCSI interfaces.
It is often necessary to connect multiple numbers of computers to multiple numbers of SCSI peripheral devices. Connection of an SCSI device to a computer equipped with an SCSI interface is point to point through a standard SCSI cable a few meters in length. Hence the conventional means of accessing an SCSI device is accomplished through the computer to which the SCSI device is attached. Clustering of these SCSI devices requires a Local Area Network LAN! switch that connects the computers where the SCSI devices are attached through Network Interface Cards NICs! which are installed within the computers.
The use of LAN switches and these interface cards increases the cost and complexity of interconnecting multiple computers to multiple peripheral devices. Moreover, such use greatly reduces the speeds of interconnection. For example, the most widely used LAN interface, fast Ethernet, has a maximum speed of 200 megabits per second, whereas SCSI devices are capable of speeds up to 320 megabits per second.
The present invention is directed toward a new type of high speed switch which not only permits the peripheral devices to be operated at their maximum speeds and also eliminates the need for LAN switches and interface cards.